Adventures in faith, learning to love God and please Him

Tag Archives: judging

I have been gone, a daughters wedding, etc. But now with another life change, I am back.

I am memorizing the 23rd Psalm. It is familiar to many people. Because I have heard or read it so many times, it is not difficult to memorize. But it is God’s word and His word is so unique that even after hundreds of readings, I was struck again in a new way.

Ps 23:4: He restores my soul. He leads in in paths of righteousness for His name sake.

God can and will restore my soul. He is the author of forgiveness. When He restores my soul, the sin is gone, as far as the east is from the west. It is my job to accept this forgiveness, learn from it, change my life, and move on. I may, however, choose to hold on to it.

Why do I hold on? Do I think I need more punishment? Am I afraid I will forget the lesson? Is there some other reason? If I think I need more punishment then what does that say about God, and how He teaches me? I need to trust in Him and rest in His parenting skills. He knows how to raise me up as a child of God better than myself. In life, I see people beating themselves up for various things and it is rarely productive. But, it is easier to see the speck in someone else’s eye than the log in my own. So I should ask God to reveal what I need to let go of. There is enough trouble in life. I don’t need to pick up, again, that which is settled between God and I. When I repeatedly go over old sins, I am saying that I am better judge of my actions and punishment than God is. This is sinful. God knows my heart better than my own. He will never hesitate to correct me or discipline me if this will lead to growth, to righteousness. I wonder, how often does He says enough already move on?

He brings to mind scripture at the right time. He tells us to not worry. When the time comes, He will put the words of life we need to speak in our mouths. God, the creator of our minds, can also bring to mind things forgotten so that we don’t make the same mistake again (more on that in another post).

Are you holding on to something? Should you be letting go? We are called to examine our hearts to see our sin, but crawling up into the judgement seat and continuing to condemn that which has been forgiven is a sin as well

There are two sentences in Psalm 23:4 So the next post will address the remainder of the verse.
Until we meet agin, Go with God, Adonika